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A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.